BAYSIDE, CALIFORNIA, February 1, 2016 - StreamGuys, a pioneering content delivery network and streaming media provider, has partnered with Cox Media Group to roll out a turnkey SaaS streaming platform for live ad-supported broadcasts, on-demand podcasts, and detailed business metrics and reporting across its entire radio network.

Now live across all 60 Cox Media Group radio stations in 11 markets, StreamGuys has built a rich toolset around its robust, reliable cloud-based content management and delivery network in alignment with the broadcaster’s goals. The company’s SaaS approach cleanly and cost-efficiently integrates several recent, innovative StreamGuys SGsuite products and services into the network that enrich streaming player data, accelerate podcast creation, enhance royalty reporting, and monetize streaming initiatives.

“In StreamGuys, we have found an ideal technology partner that understands the same opportunities we see to evolve our radio products,” said Tim Clarke, senior director of digital audience, Cox Media Group.
“Their infrastructure and technology, along with competitive pricing and expertise in broadcasting, gives us incredible flexibility in the management and delivery of our network-wide streaming initiatives.”

Clarke emphasizes that Cox Media Group’s key goal is “ubiquity,” and StreamGuys’ open architecture assures delivery across all web and mobile platforms to support all listener preferences. The streaming experience is further bolstered through SGPlayer, an HTML5 multimedia player that is custom-skinned for each station. SGPlayer’s rich metadata support delivers the relevant information that online audiences seek along side the audio stream, including song/artist data, album art, recently played tracks and social media links for sharing the experience with other listeners. SGplayer is also an approved Nielsen SDK player, delivering client-side analytics that offer greater insight into online listener demographics than what was possible before.

Beyond live streaming, Cox Media Group is managing its ever-growing stable of on-demand podcasts using StreamGuys’ SGrecast software. SGrecast empowers multiple operators to quickly turn linear broadcasts into Podcasts and side channels of any length, with near-immediate turnaround to consumers. Clarke notes SGrecast has been “a phenomenal success,” and is used for brief news, traffic and weather in every market; and 24/7 rebroadcasts of high-profile shows after initial airings.

StreamGuys’ advertising portfolio also allows Cox Media Group to intelligently strategize local and national online ad campaigns. In addition to local video and audio insertions, Cox Media Group integrates ads for out-of-market listeners using StreamGuys’ connectivity to AdWave, a leading ad marketplace warehouse.

“Our listeners want access to our content on their timetables and the devices of their choosing; SGrecast allows us to extend the life of content beyond the live linear broadcast,” said Clarke. “We can now provide content such as news, traffic and weather in an on-demand audio format that is easily consumable in our apps and on our websites. Additionally, we can offer a more advanced level of targeting to our advertisers, giving them more meaningful opportunities to reach our collective listeners.”

The StreamGuys SaaS architecture also integrates the company’s leading business software platforms, including a custom package for enhanced royalty reporting. This allows Cox Media Group to deliver information to the RIAA and SoundExchange about when and where songs were played in an automated manner—eliminating the time-intensive manual data entry and paperwork previously associated with ensuring artists are fairly compensated. The business software package also includes SGreports for in-depth audience analytics and stream metrics; SGalerts for e-mail-based notification of performance issues network-wide; and detailed logging and reporting for ad playout and exposure.

“Cox Media Group has deployed a highly progressive streaming architecture that StreamGuys will continue to scale and evolve in partnership with their internal teams, ensuring they remain on the leading edge of digital media delivery for many years to come,” said Jason Osburn, executive vice president, StreamGuys. “We are elated to deliver a comprehensive SaaS service that, along with our turnkey support, will at once help Cox Media Group solve problems and generate new ideas to push online radio and podcasting forward.”

About StreamGuys, Inc.

In business since 2000, StreamGuys is an industry-leading service provider of live and on-demand streaming, podcasting delivery, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) toolsets for enterprise-level broadcast media organizations. The company brings together the industry’s best price-to-performance ratio, a robust and reliable network, and an infinitely scalable cloud-based platform for clients of any size to process, deliver, monetize and playout professional streaming content. StreamGuys supports many of the world’s largest Podcasts, global TV and radio broadcasters, video and audio production companies, houses of worship, retail and hospitality businesses, government organizations, medical and healthcare services, and live venues for sports and entertainment. The company excels in developing and deploying technologies for business growth and revenue generation, including dynamic ad insertion, mobile streaming and detailed business and data analytics.